My new variety of lily plant is classified botanically as a Lilium hybrid, commercially as an upright Asiatic hybrid Division I-A in the Horticultural Classification of the Genus Lilium adopted by the Royal Horticultural Society of London.
My new variety of lily plant originated as a seedling selected from a group of seedlings among the seedling beds of test crosses at Oregon Bulb Farms, Sandy, Oreg. The breeding program was initiated in 1965 and the lily plant first flowered in 1970.
The cross was made during a breeding program having as its objective the production of brilliant yellow, unspotted or lightly spotted, upright-flower cultivars which would perform adequately when forced into flower under glass throughout the year, in addition to meeting the requirements of vigor, disease resistance, and rapid natural propagation in field growth. Cultivars were sought which would be disease resistant, virus tolerant, and not overly susceptible to leaf scorch or bud abortion when forced under glass.
The cross was made between the seed parent {`Uncle Sam` .times. [(`Mega` .times. `Lemon Queen`) .times. `Edith Cecilia`]} (not patented) and the pollen parent `Connecticut King` (unpatented).
My new lily plant is characterized by rapid and natural propagation under field conditions and by vigorous and healthy growth when forced under glass without excessive leaf scorch and bud abortion. It shows uniform qualities of growth to maturity when forced into flowers throughout the year. Its bud and flowers are exceptionally large, and brilliant lemon yellow in color.
Lilium `Utopia` most closely resembles the older cultivars Lilium `Dayspring` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,181) and Lilium `Connecticut King`, the latter being its pollen parent. However, it is much superior to `Connecticut King` in its larger flower size, greater tepal width and thickness, regularly shaped and more attractive inflorescence, and longer lasting flowers. It differs from `Dayspring` in that its tepal thickness is greater, its color somewhat more intense and deeper, and its flower virtually spotless (the spotting is tiny and inconspicuous).
My new variety of lily plant has been asexually reproduced by me and under my direction at Oregon Bulb Farms in Sandy, Oreg. Successive generations produced by bulb scale propagation and natural propagation from bulblets have demonstrated that the novel and distinctive characteristics of my new variety are fixed and hold true under asexual propagation from generation to generation.